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After the sensors gave the all clear, H.11 FF proceeded towards the wreck of the survey vessel. No lifepod beacons were detected, unknown whether their lifesupport systems expired or whether the aliens collected them (I forgot to check, but I'm pretty sure it was the latter).

14th August 2051, 07:20

New contact was spotted on the SPS-2 active sensor mounted on FFL Cardiff. Classified as Aydin class and numbered 002, the 6,700 ton vessel had the same velocity as the earlier Mae class - 5970 km/sec and was heading towards the task group. Still 183m kilometers away, it would need to close down to 42.8m kilometres to be in range of the RGM-1A Bloodhounds missiles of the missile frigates.

08:06

Active sensor detected on Aydin 002, with sensitivity 140 and resolution 77 giving it a range of 107.8m km. So it's likely that the enemy detected H.11 FF on passive sensors and sent Aydlin 002 to investigate. The alien ship was farther out than the wreck of our survey vessel, meaning it could have been on its way to the JP to begin with.

08:46

As per standard doctrine, H.11 FF divides into its three divisions. Command will stay in place, Missile will move to keep the range open and Beam will head directly towards the target.

10:41

Aydin 002 has crossed safely inside the RGM-1A Bloodhound range. All four FFG's of H.11 Missile turn on their fire SPG-5 missile fire controls. Each frigate has two launchers available and all four ships will fire for a total of eight missiles per salvo.

10:42

Sensor data reveals that the aliens have ECM strength of 40. Luckily the FFGs are equipped with ECCM and the MFC is over-sized, thus the ECM does not reduce our firing range. Unfortunately the missile crews on Breton and Bulwark were slow pokes. Instead of a single salvo, Alliance and Armada launched together, then Bulwark followed suit 15 seconds later while Breton took an additional 5 seconds. Aydin 002 did not change course or speed. H.11 Missile will not fire more missiles until the effects of the first salvo has been observed.

Overall situation in 10:53

The first time human technology has to stand up against aliens in a hostile situation.

11:03:21

First four missiles reach Aydin 002. Two are destroyed by point blank point defence fire, meaning that aliens likely have CIWS or something similar. The other two hit Aydin 002 easily. Unfortunately its armour is confirmed to be at least three layers strong as the to missiles hit different spots on the hull.

11:03:36

The second four missiles reach Aydin 002. Again, two are destroyed PD but two hit, cratering its armour but not penetrating. Thus, Senior Lieutenant Enersto Rosas, commanding H.11 Missile, makes the decision to fire another salvo, this time properly synchronized, to ensure that six missiles will penetrate the PD.

11:03:56

Second salvo is fired, this time nicely synchronized. Distance to Aydin 002 is 33m km. The missiles will take over twenty-seven minutes to reach the target. H.11 Beam will take over an hour to intercept the aliens hip, so it is entirely possible to launch a third salvo if required.

11:04:56

Exactly 60 seconds later the third salvo is launched.

11:10

The two salvoes pass H.11 Beam.

11:21:11

Salvo 2 reaches Aydin 002. Once again, two Bloodhounds are lost to PD but the other six all hit the alien ship. All seem to merely crater its armour, though surprisingly enough, the active sensor goes offline. Unknown whether this is due battle damage or intentional.

11:22:01

Salvo 3 reaches Aydin 002 with similar results. Six nuclear detonations, no visible damage. Each FFG has 13 RGM-1A Bloodhounds left, so a fourth salvo is authorized. If that is not enough to destroy the enemy, H.11 Beam will take care of it.

11:22:26

Salvo 4 is launched.

11:34

Salvo 4 passes H.11 Beam on its way. That division is now only 5.8m km from Aydin 002.

11:37

Salvo 4 reaches Audin 002. This there is now PD fire. Only now sensor techs realize that the enemy speed has dropped to 2985km/sec, meaning significant engine damage. All missiles hit the enemy ship and it explodes, creating a nice wreck. To the end, there was no atmosphere loss from the ship and neither were there any life pods, most likely meaning that the ship was robotic.

All three H.11 divisions will rendezvous at the wreck and then continue in-system.

But before that can happen, a new sensor contact lights up the board. The three ships guilty of killing our survey ship are spotted on an interception course - Mace 002, Mace 003 and Mace 004. All are the same size as Aydin - 6,700 tons. They are on the very edge of the spotting range of SPS-2, little over 195 million kilometres away. The same tactical procedure is committed to - Command will stay put, whereas Missile and Beam will close in. When Missile gets in-range, they will manoeuvre to keep the range open while Beam goes for knife fighting range.

16:07

The hostile aliens, without even trying to communicate, are well inside the Bloodhound envelope. Missile Division opens fire. The plan is to fire two full salvoes at each ship and repeat as long as there are RGM-1A Bloodhounds available.

16:13

H.11 Missile Division successfully completed the firing rotation, each Mace will receive two salvoes of eight missiles. Unfortunately, the FFG's ran dry. Thu sLieutenant Commander Otto Circle decides to have them rejoin the Command Division so as to provide extra anti-missile capability.

16:27

Salvo #1 reaches the alien ships. Just like with Audin, two are destroyed by PD but six hit them successfully. All merely crater the armour, though if these ships are drones or robotic like Audin was, it is questionable whether the Fleet could detect any actual damage as there would be no atmospheric vents to detect. Apparently H.11 caught the enemy flat-footed, or at least the missiles had, as only after the impact did both Mace 002 and Mace 003 turn their active sensors on. They are identical to the one utilized by the Audin.

Some damage has been caused to Mace 002, as the vessel slowed down to 5373 km/sec, while Mace 003 and 004 still maintain 5970 km/sec. This is good news as the enemy ships are slightly faster than human frigates, out running them be tricky.

16:28

Salvo #2 reaches Mace 002. Two destroyed by PD, six hit.

Now Mace 002 slows even further down, as its new speed is mere 2388 km/sec. The bad news is that six RGM-1A Bloodhounds are not enough to outright kill a Mace class ship, meaning that the Beam Division will have to earn their pay the hard way. And since the Mace class has ASM capability, things could get ugly, fast.

Salvo #3 reaches Mace 003. Two destroyed by PD, six hit.

16:29

Salvo #4 reaches Mace 003. Two destroyed by PD, six hit. Finally there is engine damage, as the ship's speed drops to 4178 km/sec. All three aliens are still on a collision course with H.11 elements.

16:30

Salvo #5 reaches Mace 004. Two destroyed by PD, six hit.

16:31

Salvo #6, the last one, reaches Mace 004. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough missiles for a full broadside, so instead of eight missiles, it's only four. One is destroyed by PD, one misses and two hit. This is the first time that a Bloodhound missed its target in this engagement.

First enemy missile reaches H.11 Beam Division. Four Dragon ASMs hits Akhiok but do not manage to penetrate the armour. At the same time, the commanders of the frigates realize a grave design error - the SPG-7 beam fire control is unable to command both the laser turret and the hull railgun. Neither do the frigates have an active sensor to spot missiles, meaning that PD fire is impossible. Nearest such sensors are on on-board the Iowa class FFL, Cardiff in the Command Division, over 105 million kilometres away. Dividing the Flotilla into divisions when the opposition has ASM capability turned out to be a very unwise decision.

As there is no chance of reaching Cardiff, the Beam Division captains decide to press on and hopefully survive the incoming missiles, relying on their armoured hulls. The fact that Akhiok has, so far, shrugged off four hits is promising.

The next salvo has six missiles hitting Akhiok and now her armour belt starts to buckle. Two engines, the ECCM-2 suite and the Stellarator Fusion Reactor are all badly damaged and out of commission. 41 crew are killed.

16:39

The bombardment of Akhiok continues. Three more missiles crater her armour. She is detached from the division and starts limping towards Command.

Then six more missiles hit her but incredibly, the sturdy little frigate is still intact, though heavily damaged.

Next three missiles hit Aiaktalik, so it seems the aliens switched targets. Perhaps there is hope for the crews, yet.

16:40

After enduring four hits, a fifth missile scores a lucky hit in the engines, slowing Aiaktalik down to 5000km/sec. Five seconds later, two more missiles hit her, damaging another engine. And five seconds later, two more. And three more. Critically, her powerplant and the laser turret are still intact, as is the important SPG-7 fire control system.

16:42

And the aliens switch their fire to Aguitkchuck. First eleven missiles are all absorbed by armour. The twelfth one, however, penetrates and damages the SPG-7. Damage control parties immediately get to work in the hope of repairing the system. Four missiles hit the beleaguered ship until the seventeeth scores a hit on engines which causes a secondary explosion that even foam cannot control. Another engine blows up in a magnificent cascade of fusion reactors, plasma and body parts of unfortunate engineers. Aguitchuck is torn apart, her captain, Senior Lieutenant Alphonse Kosky going down with the ship. 200 crew members did reach the life pods in time.

Then it's the turn of Afognak. Nine missiles crater her armour belt, one causing some damage to the laser turret but nothing significant. She is still 10.8 million kilometers away from Mace 004. Two more missiles hit, one completely absorbed by amour, the other puncturing fuel tanks but luckily not causing any secondary explosions. Ten seconds later, two more missiles sandblast the armoured shell of the frigate.

16:45

For the last two minutes, no new missiles have struck any of the Beam Division frigates. The enemy vessels are still on collision course. Did we weather the storm?

16:48

Nope. Two missiles hit Akhiok. As her hull is practically in tatters, the ship finally groans under the punishment and shatters apart. Junior Lieutenant Moses Chaffer goes down with her, unlike 133 survivors that made it to the life pods successfully.

16:51

Afognak is now 4.8 million kilometres from Mace 004 and Aiaktalik not much further, 6.1 million kliks.

16:55

Mace 002 has turned around and is moving towards inner system. She has not been able to repair any of her engine damage. Neither has Mace 003, though it and 004 are both continuing towards the remanants of the Beam Division.

16:57

Just as Afognak is getting ready for beam combat, two missiles hit FFG Bulwark. This explains the behaviour of the aliens, they are targeting the missile frigates beyond the beam frigates. There is a possibility that the Mace class is a pure missile combatant, not equipped with beam weaponry, though letting the Beam Division get so close would be suicidal. But who knows how aliens think?

16:58

Two more missiles hit Bulwark. Mace 004 is now only 537,000 km from Afognak and the crew operating her laser turret are itching to dish out some payback.

Twenty seconds later, yet two missiles hit Bulwark. Her armour stands strong. Finally a missile penetrates her armour, knocking out the missile magazine, contents of which are successfully ejected outside the ship thus there is no secondary explosion.

16:59

Frustratingly, Mace 004 has turned away from Afognak, denying her the satisfaction of entering beam fighting range. Two more missiles hit Bulwark, this time being stopped wholly by armour.

Six more missiles hit Bulwark, effectively crippling her. Then Mace 003 turns away as well. Now it seems obvious that the enemy ships have expended all of their ordnance. While Mace 004 is too fast, Afognak should be able to catch up with Mace 003 and Mace 002 thanks to the engine damage caused to them by Missile Division. There will be revenge!

Chase is almost over and Afognak has Mace 003 in her sights. The first shot is a miss as enemy ECM hampers the fire control. Twenty seconds later the Ultraviolet Laser has recharged and is fired again, missing.

17:22

Range has fallen to 141,000 km but the third shot still misses. Twenty seconds later the range has fallen further, to 108,000 km but is still a miss. Math: Fire Control To Hit: 58%, modified by Crew Grade: 69%, modified by Electronic Warfare: 49%. But it'll keep rising as I get closer. Their ECM is twice as good as my ECCM but at least I have some, otherwise I'd never hit them.

As the range fell even more, to mere 75,000 km, the laser turret finally scored its first hit on Mace 003, causing engine damage as the alien ship slows down further, to 3581 km/sec.

17:23

Next shot from the laser turret caused twice as much damage as the range had fallen to 30,000 km, from 8 to 16 points. Mace 003 slows down even more. As the range is now under 40,000 km, the 12cm Railgun mounted on the hull of Afognak opens up, peppering the armour of the alien ship. Another laser beam punctured its engines as Mace 003 was being dismantled. Third volley from the railgun blasts the enemy hull, this time putting its second-to-last engine out of commission, just before the laser turret delivered the death blow as the Ultraviolet Laser broke through the entire enemy craft, leaving it a floating wreck of twisted metal.

Chase for Mace 002 is over. Like a vengeful angel, Afognak held her fire until she had closed down to mere 10,000 kilometres. One combined broadside from the laser turret and the hull railgun was enough to cause secondary explosion amongst the engines, tearing the robotic craft apart.

While the outer system is now safe, H.11 itself is badly savaged and has no way to catch Mace 004. Missile Division needs to replenish their missiles and the whole flotilla needs to repair. Lieutenant Commander Otto Circle thus orders all ships to rendezvous at the JP after rescuing remaining lifepods. He has a foreboding sensation of court martial facing him back at Earth as the decision to separate the three Divisions from each other mostly cost his command two frigates and hundreds of lives.

TL;DR Missiles rule, especially if you are dumb enough to leave out the anti-missile sensor in your beam ships, meaning that their high-speed laser turret is incapable of shooting at incoming missiles. In the end, the fact that the enemy uses very light-weight missiles and did not have a capability to throw heavy salvoes, saved us - as did their decision to switch targets from FFs to FFGs. In the future, the Frigate Flotilla will always remain together, until modernized versions can be built that incorporate AMM-sensors in all flotilla elements. Still, the laser turrets worked nicely, too bad that the rail guns had such a pitiful range. I've got plenty of new beam weapons coming off the drawing board/prototyping stage so it's good to see that they are useful - just as long as I get the PD working.

I had two more combats against the same, robotic, enemies. I'm pretty sure they are Precursors, though their tech isn't much farther than mine. Guess turtling in Sol paid off - would be quite a nightmare to having deal with these in Gen1/Gen2 tech ships.

First combat was in Luyten 726-8, just like the previous time. Instead of H.11 Frigate Flotilla, this time Fleet HQ sent 1.11 Frigate Flotilla as H.11 was repairing and waiting for replacements. 1.11 had had no TF-training at all, as she was rushed to the scene. Arriving to the system, the flotilla remained together for better AM-defence and headed in-system. Pretty soon Mace 004 popped up on the sensors. After a short interception period, Mace 004 turned around and fled with maximum velocity. From prior experience, it was pretty clear that a torrent of missiles were headed towards 1.11FF and Mace 004 was heading towards a stockpile or collier to feed its magazines.

So when the first salvo of three Dragon missiles popped up, the crew were ready. FFG's launched two RIM-2A Blowpipe anti-missile missiles for each incoming vampire. This tactic worked pretty well, though the interception ratio wasn't very impressive - I didn't count but my gut feeling gives me 25% or so, even though Blowpipes were almost twice as fast as the Dragons. Which means that if I were using Gen1 or Gen2 missiles, I'd need a way more AMMs in space.

In any case, all salvoes were intercepted and destroyed successfully and 1.11FF continued its chase. Barely half an hour later, a pair of new contacts popped up and on a very different heading. Mace 004 had been roughly at 165-170 degrees, the new contacts, Cenzayirli 002 and 003, were on heading 270 or so. They were also quite a bit faster than Mace, reaching 8000 km/sec top speed. They were already inside the range of Bloodhounds, meaning that they must either be using cloaking tech or be significantly smaller than Mace. Full salvo of eight Bloodhounds were launched at both but long before they were getting close, new vampires popped up on the screens. Named Orion, these missiles were bigger than Dragons and naturally the guided frigates ran out of Blowpipes. One Orion got through the anti-missiles and PD, managed to hit but did not penetrate armour. Moments later the Bloodhounds reached the enemy ships and destroyed both of them easily. Turns out these were 1,000 ton Fast Attack Craft with minimal armour.

Then there was a difficult choice - continue pursuing Mace 003 even though the stock of anti-missiles were used up or allow it to restock in peace? If 1.11FF went back to Earth, it would be over a week before it could re-deploy and during that time the enemy might have deployed more FACs. So 1.11FF kept pushing in-system. It was highly likely that the enemy base was in one of the planets or moons that orbited the B star. Unsurprisingly, Mace 004 popped up again when the flotilla's sensor coverage almost reached the plethora of planetoids. Unfortunately, it had already restocked its ordnance. A new torrent of 3-missile salvoes attacked humans.

All four Forrestals and the single Iowa were assigned final fire as PD order. While the laser turrets could only fire once every 25 seconds, the railguns could fire 4 shots each every 10 seconds. Hopefully this would be enough. And while it got hairy at few times, it actually was enough. So let me repeat, five lasers every 25 seconds, four railguns (with x4 shots) every 10 seconds and roughly 200 missiles were shot down. All thanks to there being only one enemy combatant, so each salvo consisted of only three missiles. Mace ran away to restock, but this time 1.11FF got it under Bloodhound envelope and blasted the damn thing.

Close survey of the system revealed two tiny outposts, one in one of the moons of the B component, other in one of the asteroids orbiting the A component. Both had a thermal signature of 5, meaning they have smaller heat exhaust than the Dragon missiles the enemy uses - leading to speculation that these are automated deep space tracking stations. In any case, ground troops cannot be brought to bear until jump gates have been constructed as Terran Federation does not have any jump ships large enough for the divisional troop ships. Meaning that I better design a smaller and faster brigade troop ship for these cases. Curiously, the third (and last) unexplored JP in Sol turned out to lead directly to Luyten 726-8. So Sol, YZ Ceti and Lyuten 726-8 form a closed triangle. Well, not exactly closed as there are four more unexplored JPs in YZ Ceti but you get the idea.

The second battle, actually ongoing, is happening at Wolf 359. That system is two jumps away from Sol, Lalande 21185 being in the middle. There are no other JPs in either system, so it's a closed branch. 2. Survey Group (just one ship) was doing geological survey after finished with the gravitational one when she got jumped by the Luyten 726-8 Alines or Precursors as they are now known. Engine emissions revealed them to be a new class, the Deney. Stil, the Dragon missiles were totally familiar when they slammed into the poor survey ship and detroyed her. Two days later, while 1.11FF was still enroute, the aliens salvaged all the lifepods. For who knows what.

So, confident after their earlier victory where only damage was bit of superficial armour blackening, 1.11FF set course towards the wreck, all sensors on, in the hopes of luring out the enemy to a quick battle. That we got. To conserve missile stocks, the FFGs were told to launch only a single Blowpipe for each vampire, as any leakers would be taken care of through PD. Well, that worked even though the missile interception ratio was still a shitty 25% or so. But then 1.11FF ran out of Blowpipes. And it turns out that adding a single Dragon to the salvo size makes all the difference - the fourth one consistently makes it through PD. So far it's been one fuel storage and quite a bit of armour damage, but armour will not last forever. EDIT: Of course, the fact that there are two ships launching makes more of a difference - there's two 4-missile salvoes every 10 seconds, unlike one 3-missile salvo every 10 seconds.Forgot to write that before.

And naturally 1.11FF is too deeply committed to battle to escape - as the missiles are almost four times as fast as the ships, there is no escaping them back to the JP. Only choice is to ride down their throats towards the enemy contact and hope that the PD stops enough Dragons so that the FFGs can shoot their Bloodhounds towards the enemy. We'll see how it goes.

In any case, this again proves the need for a dedicated PD-corvette or destroyer escort. The beam frigates are not meant to be dedicated PD's platforms, after all, it's merely their secondary function. So any future task group will need to have:

Command ship with flag bridge

Sensor ship with sensors for both resolution 1, 10 and 100 to ensure maximal spotting range of missiles, FACs and ships

Missile ships for long-range engagement of enemy - and there's need for a longer ranged missile, as the current enemy is able to engage us beyond our missile envelope

Beam ships for close-up engagement - and can help with PD in a pinch

Jump ship

PD/AMM ships for the protection of all above elements from enemy missiles

1. & 2. can be combined and 5. can, partially, be a back-up for them. 4. need to be heavily armoured and shielded, whereas 6. should be small so as not to draw enemy fire. As the last of the original four frigate flotillas is rolling out of the shipyards, it's time to start designing new classes so that the shipyards can start tooling up.

Well, I lost two FFG's and all the other ships in the TG were seriously damaged but I managed to destroy the two Deney class ships through a combination of Bloodhounds, laser and railgun fire. At the end I had a single FF combat capable and she managed to kill them both, as they had been softened by missiles. I think they tried to ram me in the end, after running out of missiles the second time. Aye, they managed to restock and it was that second missile run that nearly wiped out 1.11FF.

Several years later, a curious phenomena happened in the Gate system, 1 jump away from Sol. A wormhole suddenly appeared, roughly on bearing 169 degrees, 615 million kilometres from the system primary. Almost exactly opposite the Gate-Sol JP. though bit closer to the star. By this time all JPs leading form Sol had been surveyed and declared safe and peaceful. Of the three jump points leading out of Sol, one lead to a dead end arm, designated "Scandinavia" and its two systems were named "Norway" and "Sweden". No inhabitable planets were found though minerals were plentiful - unfortunately dispersed over several bodies, meaning that mining operations would not be very effective at this stage. The second jump point led to Luyten 726-8 and the third to the now renamed Gate system. Curiously, there was a jump point connection between Gate and Luyten. Hence the Terran Confederation decided that fortifying Gate would be a high priority task. Thus the three JP Guard task groups were moved to Gate to watch over this curious wormhole.

Galactic map as of 2056:

Thus the cargo ships of the Federation first hauled Deep Space Tracking Stations on planet, now re-christened Gateway, the first extra-solar colony of the human race. By 2056, Gateway had a burgeoning population of 28.82 million souls, seven DST Stations and 35 maintenance facilities, to support 1st Fleet which would be permanently based at Gateway while Home Fleet would remain at Earth. Colonists required fairly extensive infrastructure to support them, as 0.34% of the atmosphere was Iodine, poisonous to humans. Total atmosphere was merely 0.3839 of Earth's. Surface temperature was freezing -96 degrees, though gravity was light, being only 0.74 that of Earth's. Gateway was only vastly smaller than Earth, with a diameter of only 12,000 kilometres. 73% of the planet was covered in extensive and thick ice sheets. Terraforming Branch of the Support Command had already drawn up plans for improving the planet after the Gaia-class terraforming ships were released from Mars, which had almost been terraformed to ideal human conditions.

But on 5th March, 2056, all those peaceful plans were crashed, as the sensors of the Wormhole Guard, the 18 Outreach-class Jump Point Defence Bases, went crazy. Three massive ships had transited from the wormhole, each massing 125,000 tons and having a thermal signature of 16,000! In comparison, the largest ships the Terran Confederation owned were the Jump Gate Construction ships, which massed 76,100 tons and had a thermal signature of 5,000. Undaunted, Junior Lieutenant Demetrius Dabe, comming JPDB Alpha Centauri and the senior officer of Wormhole Guard, ordered all bases to open fire. Each of the three unknown ships, classed as Yangyang by the targeting computer, would be targeted by six JPDBs. The bases were quite small constructs, built in the early days of exploration when hostile aliens were feared to lurk just beyond each jump point. Massing mere 250 tons, each had a crew of 15 and carried a single F/BPS-9 sensor, a single APG-10 missile fire control and four size-4 box launchers housing LGM-3A Dart missiles. Dabe fervently hoped that 24 Darts for each ship would be enough. A hurried message was sent to 1.11 Frigate Flotilla, but it was 2.88 billion kilometres away and would take over five days to arrive at the scene.

So it was that on 07:35:56 the missiles shot off from their launch boxes and rocketed off towards their targets, mere 920,000 kilometres away.

They were met by a devastating point defence fire. None of the missiles launched at Yangyang 002 reached it. Five Darts struck both Yangyang 003 and 004 but did not cause any apparent damage to either vessel. All three ships continued towards Wormhole Guard at 6,400 km/sec.

Curiously, the aliens decided to ram the JPDBs, instead of firing upon them. The bases kept relaying information back to 1.11 FF, in the hope that it could prove useful in the future. It seemed that Yangyang 002 did all the ramming, with the other two menacing vessels merely observing.